The Living Suns Interview for Know Your LA Bands

BeatCrave brings you band, The Living Suns, as part of our Know Your LA Bands series. This 6-piece group may not exactly be from Los Angeles (more like Fullerton), but they sure are doing a hell of a job by already making a name for themselves in the Orange County area. The Living Suns have briefly integrated themselves into the LA music scene by doing a few shows with bands such as Local Natives and Aushua, but that was a mere taste for music goers. With their widest range of progressive rock possible, they’ll be all over the Eastside with the rest of your favorite local bands in no time. (It also doesn’t hurt that that sell out House of Blues Anaheim from time to time.)

Although most tend to categorize The Living Suns into “stoner rock,” true fans know that TLS’ sound is a lot more diverse than just psychedelic. Flying by the seat of their pants on stage (they don’t like to rehearse set lists), these guys will go from a bluesy jam (“Monk”) to a percussion driven classic rock hit (“1000 Ways to Use A Dollar”) to a gentle pop-rock ballad (“Gestle”). Whatever it is they’re churning out on stage, they do it with such ferocity that their fans eat it up, and online-music geeks (us) can’t get enough of it either.

Catch The Living Suns live! They’ll be playing at The Blvd in tonight at 8:00! Don’t miss out on the next big thing to hit LA. Until then check out our exclusive interview with their very own guitarist, Matt Mason, below!

So are all of you guys still in Fullterton?

Yes, to one extent or another.

Are you planning to move up to the LA anytime soon?

No, not in any way, shape or form. Although we like visiting and playing there we have no desire to live there. Orange County is our home, despite its WASP’y shortcomings, we’re not gonna leave here. We’ve established too much here with all our friends’ bands that there’s no reason to go 45 minutes north.

Is there a difference in music fans from OC compared to LA?

Primarily the recessive gene that causes movement during songs.

A lot of critics seem to pen “stoner music” as a description for you guys. How do you feel about that?

The same way the dead felt being penned as a hippie band. They’re fucking hippies. It’s called like it is, you know?

Is it true that you don’t like to rehearse a set list? If so, why is this?

It’s not that we don’t like to. It’s that we’re too lazy to write a setlist. We’d rather spend before a show drinking and hanging with friends, getting to know people that are new to our shows, etc. The great Fugazi never once in their extended history ever wrote a set list. If you pull off calling out songs and it works, it’s way more raw and beautiful than having something rehearsed. If you don’t pull it off, it sounds like shit. We’re willing to take that risk for a potentially better show.

A lot of band seem to play The Detroit Bar in the OC – even LA bands. Why is that venue so great?

There are a number of reasons. They always have great bands coming through, even back to Club Mesa days. I’ve seen Modest Mouse, Turbonegro, The Melvins, etc there. These aren’t small bands, but Jon, the owner, is an incredibly accommodating guy to bands, and bands like him. Then there’s Ken, who does sound, who no matter how much he bitches about how loud we are, always manages to make us and most other bands sound better than they really should. Plus, he loves The Damned.

You guys have a great energy on stage and your audience definitely feels the vibes every time. What do you do when the audience isn’t as crazy as you’d like?

Juggling, magic tricks. some jokes that make no sense, or tell them that “If they don’t dance, I’m gonna shoot them with an ak-47″ in the words of Bryan, our singer.

The music video, “Man in the Middle” in slow motion looks pretty rad. How did you get hooked up with director, Nate Miller?

I wasn’t in the band at that point, so I don’t know. I think our homies, Local Natives, probably. He had done a video with them before.

I heard you guys didn’t want to wear goggles. Weren’t you scared of getting gunk in your eyes?

No; those dudes are fearless. Trust me; They’ve had much worse than paint in their eyes.

What’s coming up next for The Living Suns?

A new warehouse, more beer, more shows, more traveling, more music – Essentially just continuing to do it live.

Quick-Fire Round:
Who are some of your favorite bands from the OC area?

My Pet saddle, Gestapo Khazi (even though they’re from long beach), The Growlers, Audacity, Pterodacdudes, Sons At Sea, Pithy Sweet, Great Glass Elevator

Who are some of your favorite bands from the LA area?

The Outline, The doors, Buffalo Springfield, The Mamas and Papas.

How was your 420 day?

How do you think it was?

What do you like to do on a hot day like it was a few days ago?

Elephants are right; spray yourself with mud.

Tell us one thing about yourself we probably don’t already know.

We were all recently married in a communal marriage (Fuck you, Prop 8, we did it anyway) much like Fela Kuti’s marriage to 27 women at once.

The Living Suns: “Man in the Middle”